Grandma’s Kitchen: ‘The Plated Table’ Origin Story
BY GRIT CITY WEDDINGS
One day, a client of mine wanted to throw a wedding with 150 people and wanted mis-matched china: dinner, salad, and bread and butter plates with silver plated silverware. I looked and could only find one other company within a 30-mile radius and they were booked!
So, like the serial entrepreneur I am - and much to my husband's chagrin! - suddenly, we owned a rental company. The Plated Table. A sister business. Separate from Grit City Weddings + Events but still family. (Everyone has a little family drama, right?)
A few friends, family, and past clients contributed to our initial collection and I filled in the gaps with a solid month of antiquing. Turns out, I love it! I am not too surprised though. My love affair with all things food and parties goes back to my childhood days.
It’s always been about food
Food has always been the central figure in my life. Whether it was my great-grandma’s farmhouse kitchen in Indiana, my grandma’s epic garden in Ohio, or watching my mom write her two cookbooks at our kitchen table - cooking, hosting, and sharing meals with the people I love is basically in my DNA.
I think it was inevitable that I would also fall in love with setting a table. Mixing up the china, polishing the silverware, finding the right charger - man, do I love it. I love thinking about who is going to sit where and imagining the conversations that will happen, the new friendships that are forged. My mom used to have this rule at her dinner parties that you couldn't sit next to the person you came with. It always made the night more fun, a bit flirty, and you never went home without a good story.
PHOTO: If you are wondering why in this photo I'm so fashionable whilst eating from a paper plate, it was Cowboy night at our family reunion and the kids table was not to be trusted with great-grandma's china!
Grandma’s kitchen
From day one, I have been on the hunt for a good meal. From Skyline Chili in my hometown of Cincinnati to blackened shrimp and grits at Six Feet Under in the ATL to butternut squash enchiladas at Cactus in Tacoma, finding good food is a constant and invigorating hobby.
But it started in my grandma's kitchen. She grew up on a farm and maintained a large garden for the majority of her life. She knew how to feed a crowd with truly incredible food. She taught my mom and my mom passed down her love of food and hosting to her three kids. Throwing a party and serving good food is in my DNA.
PHOTO: That's my grandma holding food in her lap. We look identical except that I'm like 7 feet taller than her.
Mix and match
We never had enough china in the same pattern for the hordes of people my grandma would feed: she was one of 11, my mom had 27 first cousins, and my generation had 53 - I'm pretty sure we stopped counting once the 53 got married and starting having kids. Who could ever have that much of one china pattern? And why would you want it?
We mixed and matched. It might have been good English bone china from my one wealthy aunt, Shirley, it might have been my great-grandma's pink transferware from Johnson Brothers, or it might have been my grandma's beloved and simple Old Town Blue Corelle. We loved it all jumbled together on the dinner tables, card tables, coffee tables, and sometimes just a lap.
A growing collection
Jump ahead to 2025 and I now have a lovely collection of vintage dinner, salad, dessert, and bread + butter plates. And if you go vintage on the plate, why not go vintage on the silverware? I have silver-plated silverware with unique handles that will likely inspire great conversation around the dinner table.
The Plated Table’s official debut
My brand new sister business had it’s official debut at the Center for Urban Horticulture for a beautiful wedding filled with even more beautiful people.
Photos by Kestrel Bailey
Bring a touch of Grandma's house to your event with vintage plates and silverware, and—just like she does—we'll take care of everything.
Weddings, family gatherings, baby showers, engagement parties, birthday parties - wherever you need a little vintage, a little fun, a little touch of grandma - I’m there.
I cannot wait to see the incredible food you are going to serve on our china. I hope you make lasting memories with the conversations you'll have across the table as you pass the butter plate. I hope these china patterns remind you and those around you of your own grandmas, aunts, uncles, cousins, family friends, chosen family, and even the occasional stranger your grandpa welcomed to your Thanksgiving table (which happened in my house every year).
love + grit,
Ashley Griffith
